


Sugar Cookie Smile

by wackyjacqs



Series: Bizarre Holidays [192]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 14:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19770331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs
Summary: The shadow falls over her desk and she doesn’t need to look up to know who it is. Lately, she’s been able to just… tell.





	Sugar Cookie Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ‘Sugar Cookie Day’ (9 July).

The shadow falls over her desk and she doesn’t need to look up to know who it is. Lately, she’s been able to just… tell.

Whether it’s sitting across the briefing room table, or across a campfire, or walking along one of the SGC’s many corridors, she’s felt his eyes on her or the ghost of a touch as they pass. It’s nothing, she thinks, but it’s also _something._

She risks a glance up and sees him standing awkwardly a couple of feet away from the lab bench, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his BDUs as he rocks back on his heels. She frowns at his unease.

“Is everything okay, sir?”

“Yeah,” he says quickly, but then his brow furrows slightly, as if he’s rethinking something, but the indecision is then gone in the blink of an eye, and he nods once. “Yeah,” he repeats quieter, but more confident. 

He pulls one hand free and runs his knuckles along the edge of the bench. “Janet’s brought in some cookies,” he says, his attention on the shapes he’s randomly tracing with his fingers. “Cassie baked them – with a little help from a certain Air Force Major,” he adds.

Sam can feel herself flush at his words. It isn’t that she’s embarrassed about the colonel discovering that she _can_ actually be quite domestic, but she’s always given the impression that she… well, isn’t.

She glances towards her computer screen, and lifts a shoulder. “Yeah,” she finally admits.

There’s a slightly awkward silence that falls, before Jack’s gaze flicks to her face. “I didn’t know you could bake.”

“I can,” she says slowly, “but not very often.”

“Those cookies… they were just sugar cookies, right?”

There’s something about the way he speaks. His tone taking on a soft, almost preoccupied note that she’s never really noticed before.

“Yes, sir,” she nods. “Are you sure everything is alright, colonel?”

He purses his lips but doesn’t say anything and as Sam studies him, she realizes that he suddenly seems… bashful.

She’s just about to tell him it doesn’t matter, when he looks at her. His eyes are dark and piercing, intense and open, and she sucks in a breath.

“They tasted good," he says. "They remind me of the cookies I once made with Charlie.”

His words are barely above a whisper, but they sound loud in the otherwise quiet lab and Sam isn’t quite sure what to say.

“Thank you.”

She cants her head at his thanks, and he shrugs, then breaks the stare. “Some days are harder than others,” he mumbles and despite the lack of details, she knows he’s talking about his son. “Today,” he takes a breath, then reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. “Today was one of those days – but the cookies… they helped. In a weird kind of way.”

Sam has to swallow hard at the lump that’s formed in her throat; she had no idea that he needed something to help him through the day, but the fact that she randomly decided to bake cookies with Cassie is the thing helping him get through isn't lost on her.

“Thank you,” he says again and she watches as a range of emotions flit through his eyes, telling her exactly how thankful he really is.

The words leave her before she can stop them – not that she actually wants to, she realizes afterwards.

“There’s always more where they came from,” she says softly.

She doesn’t add _for the bad days_ but she knows he hears it and she’s rewarded with one of those rare, soft Jack O’Neill smiles that makes her knees go weak. He taps his knuckles gently against the lab bench and takes a step back.

“Thanks, Sam,” he whispers before he turns and leaves her sitting alone in her lab.

“You’re welcome, Jack,” she whispers.


End file.
